Local Roundup

From Staff

Published Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Bartram Trail baseball team has a conference championship, but the title the Bears are really after is still a week away.

The Bears beat Fleming Island 4-1 on Wednesday to win the St. Johns River Athletic Conference title. It's a nice win for Bartram, ranked No. 3 in Class 5A, especially since it came over the Golden Eagles, a district rival.

Should things go as planned in next week's district tournament, top-seeded Bartram should meet No. 2 Fleming Island in Friday's District 3-5A championship. The Bears (21-2) have beaten the Eagles twice.

Kyle Parker led the way in the conference win, hitting his fifth home run of the season and driving in three runs to give two Bartram pitchers all the backing they'd need.

Shaun Burmeister got the start, going four innings before turning things over to Mark Young to open the fourth. Young struck out three to earn his second save of the season. Burmeister is 5-0.

Jordan Humphrey added a couple hits for the Bears. Mike Lombardo and Vinnie Ratto added Bartram's only other two hits.

SAHS 9, Orange Park 5

Adam Baker helped the Yellow Jackets take third place in the St. Johns River Athletic Conference.

Baker pitched a complete game and belted a home run to help sink the Raiders.

He struck out five and allowed four earned runs to improve to 4-2. Outside of his homer, Baker was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a couple runs.

Alex Brown added a couple hits and a two runs and Brian Beach went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

Clay 10, Menendez 6

The Falcons dropped their conference game to the Blue Devils.

Menendez's five seniors, however, ended their careers at home with hits.

J.J. Ashton scored a couple runs, Jon Gagnon tripled, drove in a run and scored. Trevor Lane scored and had a hit, while Trent Wainwright was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Kevin Lovelace added a couple hits and a run for Menendez (2-23).

Nease 9, Middleburg 1

Justin McKenna swatted a home run and Justin James had three RBIs as the Panthers took fifth place in the conference tournament.

McKenna finished with a couple RBIs for the Panthers, who are 9-16. Jared MacNaught went 2-for-3 and Travis Allen added a double and a couple RBIs for Nease.

St. Joseph 5, Father Lopez 2

Danny Vargas Vila had one of his best games of the season, striking out 12 in a complete-game win over the Green Wave.

Marcus Christiansen drove in two runs and Jason Packo added another RBI for the Flashes (4-16).

Softball

St. Augustine High School was eliminated in the semifinals of the District 5-4A tournament with a 3-2 loss to Clay in eight innings.

Ashley Pacetti pitched a complete game for the Yellow Jackets (8-14).

She allowed just three hits, a walk and no earned runs while striking out five.

She gave SAHS a 2-0 lead in the third inning with a two-run triple. She finished 2-for-4.

Clay scored once in the fourth and tied the game in the fifth before winning the game in the bottom of the eighth.

For SAHS, Nicole Baran was 2-for-4 with a double. Natasha Corrigan had a double.

Palatka 10, Nease 0

Margaret Carter pitched a perfect game, ending Nease's season in the District 5-4A semifinals. Carter struck out 10 and improved to 23-3. The closest Carter came to allowing a baserunner was a 3-1 count in the fourth inning. She induced a groundout to end that threat.

St. Joseph 13, University Christian 5

Ashley Capitola pitched a complete game as the Flashes won their District 8-2A opener against the Christians.

Capitola scattered six hits across the distance and went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and an RBI.

Coral Moyle went 3-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs. She also scored three times.

Erica Pfab added a 3-for-4 showing with three RBIs. Lauren Maloney also drove in three runs with a couple hits.

The Flashes (14-11) move on to face Bishop Snyder in Thursday's semifinals at Jacksonville Providence.

Boys tennis

St. Joseph finally beat Gainesville Oak Hall, winning 20-15 in the boys District 4-A tournament on Tuesday. St. Joseph lost to Oak Hall by a point last season, 16-15.

"I had a feeling like we had the win since we'd beaten Oak Hall (in the regular season) already," said St. Joseph coach Al Restrepo.

"But it's still the finals of districts, so it was a little different. But we pulled through. It was good to come back here and take it away."

The Flashes were strong throughout, with No. 1 player Steven Binninger winning his third district championship and qualifying for his third trip to the state tournament. The No. 1 district singles winner, as well as the top doubles team automatically advance to the state tournament.

Binninger and teammate Alex Puente won easily to lock up the trip to state. The No. 2 doubles team of Kyle Binninger and Robert Bianco also won.

In singles, St. Joseph was strong.

Kyle Binninger won at No. 2, Alex Puente won at No. 3 and Scott Patrou closed things out with a win at No. 5. Fourth-seed Robert Bianco was a district runner-up.

District 4-2A

Menendez rolled into the finals in all seven slots and will face Palm Coast Matanzas today.

Girls tennis

The district championship came to the final match and Gainesville Oak Hall pulled out a victory over St. Joseph, 17-15.

Jessica Bianco and Allie Runk were the lone district winners, taking wins at the four and five spots, respectively.

Maya Asselta, Courtney Miles and Ann Goedert finished as district runners-up at the top three spots. The girls finished 6-5.